Chapter 370

Chapter 370: Chapter 370

Everyone present stared at the black barrier in absolute horror, nobody uttering a single word.

No one had expected such an ominous turn of events.

The silence lingered for about five seconds.

Then, like a string stretched past its limit and suddenly snapping, the crowd erupted into panic like a flock of startled birds.

Some turned and sprinted back to their vehicles, some stumbled backward several paces, while others stood rooted to the spot, their legs trembling so violently their quivering lips couldn’t squeeze out a sound.

Tina instinctively pulled Suzy back a step, her other hand gripping the handle of the utility knife at her waist so hard her knuckles turned white.

Suzy stumbled back half a step under the force of the pull, but she didn’t look away, her eyes remaining glued to the edge of that darkness.

Soon, Suzy caught sight of something unusual. The edges of that darkness were becoming hazy.

"Run! Run! There’s a monster in there!"

Sharp shrieks shattered the quiet air as several drivers quickly turned their cars around to escape.

"Tina, come back quickly!"

Not far off, Tina’s teammates were calling out to her, gesturing for her to return immediately.

Tina patted Suzy on the shoulder. "I’m going. Get back in your car quickly too."

Seeing Suzy nod, Tina turned and sprinted off.

One by one, everyone piled back into their vehicles.

Mark also grabbed Suzy by the wrist, pulling her toward the RV.

"Let’s go too."

The two boarded the vehicle. Mark started the engine, preparing to pull a U-turn and drive away.

"Look over there!" Suzy called out, stopping Mark and pointing in a direction.

"What’s wrong?" Mark looked over, his expression subtly changing.

Suzy murmured softly, "The barrier... it seems to be shrinking..."

Mark stared at the barrier not far away. After a moment, he nodded. "It really is."

Suzy said, "Don’t leave just yet. Let’s wait and see."

A short distance away, Tina’s team had already turned their vehicle around.

Seeing that Suzy’s beat-up camper van was still parked in place, Tina rolled down the window, leaned half her body out of the passenger seat, and waved frantically toward Suzy’s direction, her voice urgent and rapid:

"Suzy! Hurry up and leave! Don’t stay here! That thing could come back out at any moment!"

Even after her warning, Suzy’s vehicle didn’t budge.

"Why aren’t they moving?" someone in Tina’s car asked in confusion.

"Did their engine break down?"

"Could be, that van looks like it’s seen better days."

Listening to her teammates’ speculation, Tina’s first thought was also that Suzy’s vehicle had broken down.

"Let’s pull up and check on them," Tina said.

Her vehicle slowly glided over to Suzy’s RV.

"Suzy, are you guys alright?"

By then, Suzy had also rolled down her window, leaning out slightly while keeping her eyes fixed on the shifting darkness up ahead.

"I’m fine! Miss Becker, look!" She raised a finger toward the barrier. "It seems to be shrinking."

Tina followed her finger, her anxious expression instantly freezing over.

The edges of that pitch-black void were indeed turning blurry.

Where the headlight beams had previously been cut flat, the illumination was now creeping forward inch by inch, slowly exposing the greyish-white asphalt beneath.

"It really is shrinking..." Tina muttered.

From behind her, a teammate’s hesitant voice came through: "Tina, should we drive off or what?"

Tina didn’t answer right away. She kept her eyes on the barrier for a few more seconds before asking Suzy, "Are you sure?"

"I’m sure," Suzy replied. "Let’s wait another moment to see if it completely disappears."

Tina hesitated for two seconds before signaling behind her with a hand gesture to hold off on leaving.

Though reluctant, her teammates halted their vehicle, which was already turned around.

Nearby, the drivers in the black sedan and off-roader seemed to have noticed the anomaly as well, gradually bringing their cars to a stop.

Only the white box truck hadn’t stopped—it skirted around the cluster of vehicles ahead and drove down the road a bit, looking desperate to get away.

However, after driving about a few hundred meters, it suddenly slowed down, came to a halt in the middle of the road, and executed a U-turn.

Because the black barrier was truly vanishing—a visible shift right before their eyes.

Even the driver of the fleeing box truck had realized it.

The mass of darkness was dissipating at an incredible speed, completely vanishing in no time.

In the span of a single blink, the road ahead returned to its normal state, as if that layer of barrier had never existed in the first place.

After a tense standoff lasting five full minutes, someone finally stepped out of their vehicle.

One after another, people began getting down, including Tina and Suzy.

By now, the first person who stepped out had reached the spot where the barrier had vanished.

"It’s really gone..." he whispered.

In this moment, it felt almost like a surreal dream.

More than one person shared that exact feeling; even Suzy felt briefly dazed.

If it weren’t for the fact that the middle-aged man was gone, and if his pickup truck weren’t still sitting idle on the side of the road, they all would have believed that everything that just happened was nothing more than an illusion.

As if the black barrier had never been there at all.

"We can pass through now!"

Suzy stood by the vehicle, staring at the greyish-white asphalt that had re-emerged ahead. The breeze blew in from that direction, carrying a subtle, putrid stench of decay.

Not far away, the white box truck restarted its engine and slowly forged ahead. The driver of the off-roader hesitated for a brief moment before following suit.

"Let’s move too. Best to cross this stretch first."

Suzy heard Tina’s voice and looked over to see her pointing toward the road ahead.

She nodded and climbed back into her vehicle.

Before departing, Tina and her team took the middle-aged man’s abandoned pickup truck along with them.

The three vehicles drove forward in line, one after the other.

The night was deathly quiet, making the hum of their engines sound exceptionally crisp in the vast darkness.

Suzy and Mark remained silent, neither saying a word.

Gradually, the view ahead opened up. Fields on both sides of the road stretched out into the distance under the cover of night, broken only by the dim, silent outlines of an abandoned farmhouse or two.

After driving for roughly ten more minutes, the road condition grew considerably smoother—as if this particular section had been well-maintained before the apocalypse, showing few signs of neglect.

Then, a gas station appeared by the roadside ahead.

It wasn’t large. A faded sign hung askew from the edge of the canopy roof, its lettering barely legible under the glare of their headlights.

The main structure of the building remained relatively intact, though most of the windows were shattered, exposing a pitch-black interior.

Parked under the canopy was a dust-covered old car, completely unclear if it was still operational.

Tina’s vehicle slowed down, flicking on its turn signal before slowly turning into the gas station entrance.

Suzy eased off the accelerator as well, following closely behind until she brought the RV to a stop in an open spot at the edge of the fueling area.

The other vehicles didn’t pull in with them, continuing straight down the road without stopping.